I feel Alex Baldwin is guilty of negligence
If he had followed this one iron clad rule, nobody would have been hurt. This is one of the first things that’s taught in gun safety courses — never assume that a gun is unloaded. In fact, perhaps it’s safer yet to assume it’s loaded unless you see some kind of ironclad evidence to the contrary. Treat every gun like a loaded gun until you’ve personally checked it and made sure it’s not a danger to anyone, including yourself.
I can’t imagine a jury that would think it is ok to take someone’s word that a gun is safe. This is a thing you have to do for yourself.
If you don’t know how to tell if a gun is safe or that the ammo is blanks, you should not be touching any gun. If he did not know the basics, I could have taught him in less than an hour. He was negligent but as the courts have found, others were at fault as well. That someone else was also negligent does not exonerate him. Trust but verify.
TEK